Tainted Territory
by Lonely Yellow Rose
Summary: Rumor tells of a mystic village buried deep within the woods, hidden to a normal bystander's eye. Little did anyone expect for what was once sacred ground to become a mere slaughterhouse. [Fantasy-esque SYOC O-P-E-N]


No longer could she tell whether it was night or day. A thick snowfall blocked her vision of but a few feet ahead as the raven-haired girl stumbled forward. In a hazy-minded state, she took large, careless strides, leaving deep imprints within the frosted terrain beneath her. Surrounded by nothing but frozen forest, one would easily question where she was off to.

Unfortunately, she had no idea either.

She believed herself to be off to her prestigious new school, but that was the least of it. Much more was hidden behind the school's façade, but that is a matter of the future.

Transport services had closed down due to the snow, but this poor girl had nowhere to wait the storm out, and after learning about this _wonderful_ shortcut from what seemed to be such a nice woman, she had decided it would be best to push through, as who knew how long it would last.

And so back to the present, where we find our freezing focus wandering about with such foolish hope created through her foolish ideas. She could only find herself more and more lost as the white landscape became less and less distinguishable…were those her footprints from earlier? Perhaps.

So was turning back even an option? What would guarantee she would make it back to the village?

But, then again, what would guarantee she'd make it to the school? Maybe it would be best for her if she were to simply turn around and go back. But, what if she had been walking in circles? Would she even be able to retrace her footsteps? Though, what were all these questions supposed to do anyway? Stall? Reason?

It should be enough of a fact that the girl had no reason, to have wandered into a thick forest during a thicker snowstorm. She just wanted to get to shelter.

It was then when she cursed herself for not simply taking shelter at a café or the likes. She could've been so much safer, had that been the case. But why focus on that?

The future could be holding such wonderful promises. Perhaps a warm fireplace or a cup of tea. But, then again, who said the future was going to be nice?

So maybe she'd best focus on the past. No, wait; all there was to focus upon was her idiotic decision. Ah, if only she had brought something to entertain her, like some headphones to listen to music along her walk. What had she been thinking over the course of last week as she packed? Not even bringing headphones!

Past, present, future, and not a single thing to think about. So why don't we finally skip to the good part?

It would be in such a short amount of time that the raven-haired girl would pass by a cabin. That's correct, a cabin, lodged deep in the woods, at least, that's what it seemed to be. Her eyes skipped over it at first, but once she had noticed it, she did not take a moment to question it. Waddling on ahead in her frozen state, the girl rushed to the door after having noticed the windows all lit up. With three hesitant, but loud, knocks she would stand there in waiting for a good minute or two, until realizing the thick wooden door had been left open. With a curious peek of her head inside the lodge, she would find no one. An empty cabin. From the looks of it, at least.

She took two steps inside before slowly taking her black flats off, letting her bare feet brush across the hardwood floors. She shuffled from door to door, cautiously peeking her head in with a light, nervous "Hello?" from time to time.

And that was that. Not a single living presence present.

So this girl gathered her courage to take her leave. Sure, she wanted to stay here and wait out the blizzard, but it _would_ be rather awkward if she were to be sitting around on the couch while the owners came home. Within seconds she was at the door once more.

She was slow to get it open, but once she could slip through, she did. And yet, where she found herself was nothing like the forest.

She was now in a village. And a village she had never seen, at that.

The village carried an inconsistent light blue hue. Gravel paths led from house to house, building to building, all about the town. Very few lampposts lit the village, in fact, it would seem the majority of the light provided came from the bright full moon, and the uncountable amount of shining fireflies floating about sedately. The town altogether had a very calm demeanor to it, it was almost, what one would call "breathtaking". The architecture followed a pattern of most buildings having some form of stone roofing, and wooden walls.

Though, oddest of all tall, marble walls surrounded the village.

But suddenly, the girl was reduced to the ground. In the mere milliseconds she remained conscious, she could feel her head throbbing, she was hit! With nothing to do, though, she quickly slipped into a heavy, forced "sleep".

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><p>So soon she would wake up again, to find herself in an extravagant bedroom, and something around her neck. Curiously, she pulled at the chain encircling her neck, to see dog tags of sorts.<p>

**Colette Domaine**

**Mirror**

The insanity of it all, and she didn't even get an explanation. Yet.

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><p><strong>Perhaps I should get on to welcoming you all. Yes, yes, thank you for reading that. Introductions hooray. Moving on, welcome to this SYOC. Let's go over some basic things.<strong>

**If you have skipped ahead to the form, you may have noticed the "magic" category. Since this story relies on some minor magic, I am giving you the ability to choose what sort of magic your character has _suddenly_ ended up with (they did not have this prior to the mutual killing). This also makes a nice judgement for how terrible your character is. Powers to control all space and time? Uhh noooope~! Don't let the door hit you on the way out! This does not mean you can't get creative. Just don't get all Mary-Sue on me.**

**If your character is rejected, panic not, I shall reply and tell you properly.**

**I will be choosing these characters based on quality. This is not first-come-first-serve.**

**I will only put as much effort into writing your character as you put into making it.**

**The form is already on my profile. Stop asking for it.**

**You may submit as many characters as you wish.**

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><p><strong>Name:<strong>

**Age:**

**Talent:**

**Magic: (Now, you can get a little interesting. Feel free to include drawbacks such as, I don't know, they get sick if they overuse their magic, or the like.)**

**How would they use their magic?: (For their own benefit? For the benefit of others? Or would they rarely use it, as it's something "unnatural"?)**

**Physical Description/Clothing:**

**Personality: (I'm afraid I can't do much with a prompt. Send me a proper description that is longer than 3 sentences and is more than a mere block of adjectives.)**

**Speech/Mannerisms: (How do they speak? Have any special details?)**

**Quotes: (Respond to the following prompts below as your character would.)**

**Asking someone to hang out with them/replying to someone who has asked them to hang out with them.**

**It has been announced that in order to escape, they must kill another student.**

**They have been accused of being the culprit.**

**Basic trial banter.**

**Anything else you feel you should include.**

**Background: (Backstory and significant life events. Remember, a backstory is not simply being thrown in a pool and nearly drowning. That's a significant event.)**

**Type of people they like:**

**Type of people they dislike:br /Family: (At least include names. Optional additions are the relationship between your character and the members, age, and anything else of importance.)**

**Interested in Romance? If yes, with what sort of people?:**

**Strengths:**

**Weaknesses:**

**Likes:**

**Dislikes:**

**Hobbies:**

**Minor Secrets:**

**Darkest Secret:**

**Most likely to be...: (Culprit or victim.)**

**A motive that could push your character to kill:**

**Role in Investigation/Trial:**

**Candidate for Mastermind: (Yes or no.)**

**Why: (Elaborate upon your answer above.)**

**Miscellaneous:**

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><p><strong>Characters:<br>- Colette Domaine**

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><p><strong>Oh! And one last thing. You may be wondering how many slots are open. Well, about that…<strong>

**There is not set amount of slots. I will close the submissions once I feel I have enough, or if I stop getting submissions. So the number of slots is undetermined! Whoa!**


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